The present invention relates to a roller feed device having an elongated swing arm, and a feed roll mounted for powered rotation at the swinging end of the arm, and particularly, to novel structure used in such a device for journaling the feed roll on the arm.
In the usual log-debarking system, a log is fed along a transport axis through a debarking ring by a pair of log-feed assemblies mounted on opposite sides of the ring. Typically, each assembly includes three elongated roller feed devices which are mounted for cooperative swinging of their outer ends toward and away from the transport axis. Each device is composed of an elongated swing arm, and a spiked feed roll journaled on the outer end of the arm for engaging the surface of a log. The feed rolls are rotated to advance a log along the transport axis. A characteristic operational feature of a log-feed assembly of this type is that the feed rolls experience considerable radially directed shock as the roller arms encounter log surface irregularities.
In one type of roller feed device known in the prior art, the feed roll is mounted directly on the output shaft of a gear reducer which is carried adjacent the outer end of the arm. A problem with this construction is that radially directed shock experienced by the feed roll is transmitted directly to the gear reducer in the arm, with the result that the gear reducer experiences significant abuse, and may require frequent repair or replacement.
More recently a log-feed device having its feed roll carried on a shaft which is journalled on the device's arm and rotatably coupled to a gear reducer in the device has been proposed. This construction functions to transmit radial shock experienced by the feed roll directly to the arm in the apparatus, effectively isolating the gear reducer from all but torsional-load coupling between the gear reducer and the feed roll. While this construction reduces overall maintenance problems, repacking or replacing the bearings which journal the feed roll on the arm can be quite time-consuming, adding considerable cost in terms of down time in a log-debarking system.
An object of the present invention is to provide a roller-feed device which substantially overcomes the above-discussed maintenance problems associated with prior art log-feed devices.
A more specific object of the invention is to provide such a device having a feed roll which is journaled on an arm in the apparatus by a bearing assembly which takes the form of an easily replaceable cartridge.
The device of the invention includes an elongated arm having an inner mounting end and an outer roll-carrying end. Formed in the outer end region of the arm is an elongate cavity dimensioned to receive a bearing cartridge in the device by axial movement of the cartridge toward the arm's inner end. The cartridge includes a shaft which is detachably coupled, at its inner end, to a powered drive shaft in the arm, with insertion of the cartridge axially into the cavity. A feed roll in the device is detachably mounted on the outer end of the cartridge shaft for rotation therewith.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the cartridge is secured to the arm by bolts or the like, with removal of the feed roll from the cartridge shaft providing access to such bolts.
These and other objects and features of the present invention will become more fully apparent when the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.